Morning, March 31 Go To Evening Reading
“With his stripes, we are healed.”
—Isaiah 53:5
Pilate delivered our Lord to the lictors to be scourged. The Roman scourge was a dreadful instrument of torture. It was made of the sinews of oxen, and sharp bones were inter-twisted everywhere among the ligaments, so every time the lash came down, these pieces of bone inflicted fearful laceration and tore off the flesh from the bone. The Saviour was, no doubt, bound to the column and thus beaten. He had been beaten before, but this of the Roman lictors was probably the most severe of his flagellations. My soul, stand here and weep over his poor stricken body.
Believer in Jesus, can you gaze upon him without tears as he stands before you, the mirror of agonizing love? He is at once fair as the lily for innocence and red as the rose with the crimson of his own blood. As we feel the sure and blessed healing that his stripes have wrought in us, do our hearts melt at once with love and grief? If we have ever loved our Lord Jesus, we must feel that affection glowing now within our bosoms.
“See how the patient Jesus stands,
Insulted in his lowest case!
Sinners have bound the Almighty’s hands,
And spit in their Creator’s face.
With thorns, his temples gored and gashed
Send streams of blood from every part;
His back’s with knotted scourges lash’d.
But sharper scourges tear his heart.”
We would fain go to our chambers and weep, but since our business calls us away, we will first pray to our Beloved to print the image of his bleeding self upon the tablets of our hearts all day, and at nightfall, we will return to commune with him, and sorrow that our sin should have cost him so dear.
Go To Morning Reading Evening, March 31
“And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day nor the beasts of the field by night.”
—2 Samuel 21:10
If the love of a woman for her slain sons could make her prolong her mournful vigil for so long, shall we weary of considering the sufferings of our blessed Lord? She drove away the birds of prey, and shall not we chase from our meditations those worldly and sinful thoughts which defile both our minds and the sacred themes upon which we are occupied? Away, ye birds of evil wing! Leave ye the sacrifice alone! She bore the heats of summer, the night dews, and the rains, unsheltered and alone. Sleep was chased from her weeping eyes: her heart was too whole for slumber. Behold how she loved her children! Shall Rizpah thus endures, and shall we start at the first minor inconvenience or trial? Are we such cowards that we cannot bear to suffer with our Lord? She chased away even the wild beasts with courage unusual in her sex, and will not we be ready to encounter every foe for Jesus’ sake? These her children were slain by other hands than hers, and yet she wept and watched: what ought we to do who have by our sins crucified our Lord? Our obligations are boundless; our love should be fervent and our repentance thorough. To watch with Jesus should be our business, to protect his honor our occupation, to abide by his cross our solace. Those ghastly corpses might have affrighted Rizpah, especially by night, but in our Lord, at whose cross-foot we are sitting, nothing is revolting, but everything attractive. Never was living beauty so enchanting as a dying Saviour. Jesus, we will watch with thee yet awhile, and do thou graciously unveil thyself to us; shall we not sit beneath sackcloth, but in a royal pavilion.
Spurgeon, C. H. Morning and Evening: Daily Readings. London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1896. Print.
March 31: Gifts and Grace
Numbers 35:1–36:13; 1 Corinthians 16:1–24; Psalm 30:1–12
“Yahweh spoke to Moses on the desert plains of Moab beyond the Jordan across Jericho, saying, ‘Command the children of Israel that they give to the Levites from the inheritance of their property cities to live in; and you will give to the Levites pastureland all around the cities’ ” (Num 35:1–2).
The idea of giving is ancient. Before God’s people enter the promised land, they’re commanded to help the Levites—who will serve them as spiritual leaders—by giving them cities. Now that God has given to the people, He asks that they give back to His work. There is an opportunity for obedience, which will come with the blessing of continued spiritual guidance from the people they are giving the land. But giving is not the only concept at play here.
Shortly after this, God asks the people to provide refuge cities for murderers (Num 35:6–8). He institutes a system of grace—a type of house arrest. The idea that synagogues and churches are places where criminals can find refuge (sanctuary) likely originates from this.
This system of grace also manifests itself in types of hospitality. We see this several times in Paul’s letters. For example, Paul’s relationship with the Corinthians was on the rocks. Yet, he still requests hospitality for his fellow ministry worker: “But if Timothy comes, see that he is with you without cause to fear, for he is carrying out the Lord’s work, as I am. Therefore do not let anyone disdain him, but send him on his way in peace so that he may come to me, for I expect him with the brothers” (1 Cor 16:10–11).
God is gracious and calls us to be the same way—even when we don’t want to and even when our sense of justice makes being gracious frustrating.
Is God calling you to be gracious to someone? How are you going to give?
John D. Barry
Barry, John D., and Rebecca Kruyswijk. Connect the Testaments: A One-Year Daily Devotional with Bible Reading Plan. Print. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012.
March 30th
Holiness v. hardness towards God
And He … wondered that there was no intercessor. Isaiah 59:16.
Many leave off praying, and God becomes distant because we have only a sentimental interest in prayer. It sounds right to say that we pray; we read books on prayer that tell us that prayer is beneficial and that our minds are quieted and our souls uplifted when we pray, but Isaiah implies that God is amazed at such thoughts of prayer.
Worship and intercession must go together; the one is impossible without the other. Intervention means that we rouse ourselves up to get the mind of Christ about the one for whom we pray. Too often, instead of worshipping God, we construct statements as to how prayer works. Are we honoring or in dispute with God—‘I don’t see how You are going to do it.’ This is a sure sign that we are not worshipping. When we lose sight of God, we become rigid and dogmatic. We hurl our petitions at God’s throne and dictate to Him what we wish Him to do. We do not worship God, nor do we seek to form the mind of Christ. If we are hard on God, we will become brutal toward others.
Are we so worshipping God that we rouse ourselves up to lay hold on Him, that we may be brought into contact with His mind about the ones for whom we pray? Are we living in a holy relationship with God or rigid and dogmatic?
‘But there is no one interceding properly’—then be that one yourself, be the one who worships God and lives in a holy relationship with him. Get into the real work of intercession, and remember it is a work that taxes every power but a work that has no snare. Preaching the gospel has a surprise; intercessory prayer has none.
Chambers, Oswald. My Utmost for His Highest: Selections for the Year. Grand Rapids, MI: Oswald Chambers Publications; Marshall Pickering, 1986. Print.
March 31
The children of your Father who is in heaven
Matt. 5:45
The best name by which we can think of God is Father. It is a loving, deep, sweet, heart-touching name, for the title of father is full of inborn sweetness and comfort. Therefore, we must confess ourselves, children of God, for by this name, we deeply touch our God since there is no sweeter sound to the father than the child's voice.
Martin Luther
Hardman, Samuel G., and Dwight Lyman Moody. Thoughts for the Quiet Hour. Willow Grove, PA: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing, 1997. Print.
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